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Re: Start Trucking your own bees TODAY!

I had the Volvo version of that 1987 tractor but with a Caterpillar 3406B engine. It was bullet proof, ran it for 1.2 million miles with little serious trouble. It was the only one of my 9 tractors that would start below zero and it never had a block heater.

You can certainly haul your own bees for less than paying an owner-operator particularly if you can avoid going through a freight broker. A broker will mark up the cost by at least 15%. Just avoid the temptation to hire a driver and try to "run the system" during times when the truck isn't hauling your bees.

I have run trucking operations with over a thousand drivers, owned my own small company, owned a logistics and freight brokerage. As far as straight costs go, you can do it yourself cheaper with well maintained older equipment that is dedicated to the task. Stray beyond that core activity and all bets are off.

Re: Start Trucking your own bees TODAY!

always figure it is pretty expensive to have the beekeeper driving semi's and instead of doing bee work. use to haul all our own bees until about 6 years ago. was just too much chaos and quality of our work was compromised. just not worth it

Re: Start Trucking your own bees TODAY!

Greg,
I understand your decision to spend your time on your core competency. That is something that must be weighed against the premium cost of outsourcing the transportation. I imagine that decision might be made differently for various sized commercial operations.

Re: Start Trucking your own bees TODAY!

i completely agree that it would have to be based on how big your operation is and how far of travel it is. in the spring we have around 14 loads of bees to haul back home. basically for us it came down to bees close to swarming in texas because we couldnt get them out soon enough. and then they got back to SD on the verge of starvation. we were just spread to thin to be able to take care of things properly. we do however haul all our own equipment still

Re: Start Trucking your own bees TODAY!

not quite sure Keith but i believe we run 26 or 27ft beds on our trucks. i would have to measure. i do know we haul 18 4-way pallets of honey and have enough room on the back for a single row of fume boards